Our undergraduate courses enable you to tailor your degree to your needs. We offer flexibility and choice, giving you opportunities to gain the transferrable skills employers really want, such as teamwork, leadership and learning another language.

PhD study takes place within a demanding and rigorous research environment. The depth of your personal knowledge will increase and you will be expected to make an independent contribution to knowledge in your field.

English

Our wide range of options in English include groundbreaking work in international writing, creative writing and film studies. You will have the opportunity to study one or more languages as part of your course.

Our BA English covers the whole range of literature and culture in English from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Led by a team of lively, first-class academics, we encourage you to follow your research interests as your understanding of the subject becomes more specialist.

The study of another language and culture in these combined degrees brings depth and breadth to your understanding of literature, theory and the creative arts. You will spend year three in a country where your chosen language is spoken.

Our wide-ranging BA English and History strengthens the emphasis on historical and cultural context in English studies. There are strong links between the two subjects, particularly in the areas of Jewish studies, the 18th century and across medieval and renaissance cultures.

Our innovative BA English and Musicprogramme explores the interconnections between the two disciplines, such as the lyric, opera, musicals and film. The study of English literature complements the music element, which combines technical studies with historical and critical perspectives and includes modules on the music business.

The BA English and Philosophy provides you with an excellent education in literature, theory and critical thinking. There are opportunities for field research, creative writing, as well as work experience in local schools.

The BA Film and English programme offers the opportunity to think about cinematic and literary forms in new and interesting ways.

Our distinctive BA English Literature, Language and Linguistics (international applicants only) is taught by outstanding academics in English and Modern Languages. It will appeal to anyone fascinated by the English language and how the language is manifest in historic colonial and contemporary literature. The degree is also offered with a year abroad.

Film

Film at Southampton is ranked first for Film studies in the UK according to the Guardian University Guide 2016 and achieved 100% student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2015.

Alongside knowledge of the critical theoretical debates in film studies, our BA Film Studies develops industry-relevant practical skills. Innovative optional modules run through all three years, including a screenwriting option in the final year.

Combined honours programmes

The close collaboration between the disciplines gives our BA Film and English programme a strong intellectual coherence, while the textual and theoretical skills you will gain are designed to complement each other.

You can study French/German/Spanish with film across a range of historical periods, with the option to specialise in European cinema. Our emphasis is on the specific cultural context in which films were produced and the work of key film-makers and their influence on cinema as a whole. A year is spent studying abroad.

The BA Film and History combines the study of two closely related disciplines. Historical and political context forms an important part of the approach in modules such as Hollywood in the 1930s.

Our BA Film and Philosophy builds on our research and teaching strengths in both areas, producing a successful and challenging course combination that benefits in particular from film studies’ interest in aesthetics and philosophy.

Integrated programmes

The MA (Integrated) Film allows you to study a selection of influential genres, movements, filmmakers and theoretical approaches, in conjunction with spending a significant proportion of your time researching your own independent project.

These four-year courses give undergraduates the opportunity to study for an academic year at a university in another part of the world. Destinations include Europe, Asia, including Korea, and North America.

BA Film with Year Abroad
BA Film and English with Year Abroad
BA Film and History with Year Abroad

French

Modern languages at Southampton is consistently ranked in the top five in the UK by the Guardian University Guide and we achieved 97 per cent student satisfaction in the NSS 2013.

In your first year of our BA French, you will follow a French language course to develop four practical skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. In your second and fourth years, you will develop your practical French language skills and take a range of optional modules. Your third year will normally be spent in a French-speaking country as a student on an Erasmus exchange, a language assistant in a school or in other suitable employment.

The Integrated Masters in Languages (MLang) leads to a full masters award and offers you the same choice and flexibility as the BA programmes, including a full year abroad. It also has the same funding options.

History

We offer extremely flexible degree programmes, with a rare breadth of topics not commonly taught in British universities. You will have the option of a semester or year studying abroad in France, Holland, Poland or Canada.

In our BA History, we will help you develop skills as an independent researcher, and our innovative group project gives you a chance to conduct research as part of a team and present it to a public audience. In your final year, you will study a historical theme in depth, accompanied by a dissertation involving your own creative research. In all three years, you have the option to take 25 per cent of your programme in another subject.

Our BA Language and Society combines the two popular strands of linguistic studies and social and political studies, building on areas of considerable expertise and research activity at Southampton.

Available to non-native English speakers only, you will study two languages in the BA Language Learning; one of them may be a new language to you. You will also take a range of courses in linguistics and applied linguistics, gaining a broad understanding of how different languages are structured and used.

You will study the history and politics of European integration in the BA Languages and Contemporary European Studies, with a particular focus on political, legal and economic structures and major themes related to society, ideology and culture.

Our BA Modern Languagesis intended for proven talented linguists and allows you to study three languages. Two must be at advanced level and one can be from scratch.

Linguistics is the study of language in all its forms and is concerned with the many different facets of language, from the physical properties of sound waves in speech and the structure of sentences to the social context in which conversations are embedded:

BA French (Linguistic Studies)
BA French and German (Linguistic Studies)
BA French and Spanish (Linguistic Studies)
BA German (Linguistic Studies)
BA German and Spanish (Linguistic Studies)
BA Spanish (Linguistic Studies)

The MLang leads to a full masters award and offers you the same choice and flexibility as the BA programmes, including a full year abroad. It also has the same funding options:

French Linguistic Studies
French and German Linguistic Studies
French and Spanish Linguistic Studies
German Linguistic Studies
German and Spanish Linguistic Studies
Languages and Contemporary European Studies
Language Learning
Language and Society
Spanish Linguistic Studies

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

In our BA Spanish, you will experience the rich diversity of Spanish cultures, develop your language skills and increase your understanding of the cultures, languages and history of Spain and Latin America. You will spend your year abroad in the Spanish-speaking country.

The MLang leads to a full masters award and offers you the same choice and flexibility as the BA programmes, including a full year abroad. It also has the same funding options:

Spanish
Spanish and Latin American Studies
Spanish Linguistic Studies
Spanish and Portuguese
The Spanish-speaking World
French and Portuguese
French and Spanish
French and Spanish Linguistic Studies
German and Spanish
German and Spanish Linguistic Studies

German

Our highly skilled and committed language teachers promote rapid and effective language learning and you will receive stimulating and engaging teaching in the areas of linguistics, history, culture and society.

Our flexible BA German course enables you to specialise in a particular field or spread your interests. During your year abroad, you will choose between being a language assistant in a school, studying at an Erasmus partner university such as Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna or Potsdam, or working in an approved job.

Our Integrated Masters in Languages (MLang) leads to a full masters award and offers you the same choice and flexibility as the BA programmes, including a full year abroad. It also has the same funding options.

Philosophy

Philosophy at Southampton achieved 92% for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2015 and are currently ranked 8th in the UK to study Philosophy in the Guardian University Guide 2016.

You will gain in-depth knowledge of the core areas of philosophy in our BA Philosophywhile pursuing your own interests through optional modules. You will be encouraged to develop your own thoughts and to engage in philosophical debate. Lectures and class discussion are supplemented by tutorials involving three to five students. In any year, you can substitute up to two modules from other subjects.

Combined honours degrees

You will take eight modules each year, at least three from each subject. You may take up to two modules from a third subject. In year three, your dissertation may be in either subject:

BA Philosophy with Year Abroad
BA Economics and Philosophy with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy and English with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy with History with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy and Mathematics with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy and Music with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy and Politics with Year Abroad
BA Philosophy and Sociology with Year Abroad

Our degrees are some of the most highly regarded humanities courses in the country, offering a firm foundation for a successful career in a multitude of industries.

At Humanities we are fascinated by people and their activities and achievements over the centuries, from prehistory to the modern day. We are known for our ground-breaking and internationally significant education and research across our disciplines, most of which are ranked in the top ten in the UK.

University of Southampton proves its world-leading research status

The University of Southampton has reaffirmed its position as one of the leading research universities, following publication of the latest national assessment of research (Thursday 18 December), with some key successes for Humanities. Highlights from the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 for the Faculty include:

• Music is ranked as the best in the country on the basis of the volume and quality of its research.
• History and Modern Languages are ranked in the top five nationally (the latter’s submission included research contributed by Film).

Elsewhere, Archaeology (submitted in the same Unit of Assessment as Geography) had 73 per cent of its published research rated as world-leading or internationally excellent, placing it in the top ten of all archaeology departments in the UK.

In English, 76 per cent of its research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent (and the submission included research contributed by Film), while Philosophy was ranked in the top 10 of all philosophy departments in the UK for its research outputs.

Film Studies - taught courses

Film Studies is a separate disciplinary group within Humanities led by Professor Tim Bergfelder, an acknowledged expert on European and transnational cinema.

Our academics are involved in research of international standing and have established an environment where teaching and research comes together to help you flourish whatever your interests.

Our postgraduate programmes explore cinema from its beginnings in the 19th century to the ever-changing present of the digital age, and intersect with a diverse array of fields including history, gender studies, television and cultural studies.

English - taught courses

This is supported by our five interdisciplinary research centres; we also have a special relationship with the Chawton House Library, which specialises in early women's writing. Our library and IT resources are excellent, and we have a lively research culture, with frequent seminars and conferences.

We offer a broad-based generic MA in English Literary Studies; the more specialised MA in 20th and 21st Century Literature; an MA in Medieval and Renaissance Culture; an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies (supported by the unique local resource of the Chawton House Library); and an the MA in Creative Writing.

History - taught courses

Postgraduate students at Southampton benefit from our lively research culture, which incorporates a series of major international conferences and a range of distinct seminar programmes.

An MA degree is a qualification which is valuable in its own right to those pursuing careers outside academia, for example in business, journalism, teaching and a variety of other professions. However, it also provides the platform of research training and experience essential to successful study at MPhil or PhD level, at Southampton or elsewhere.

Our MA programmes have a strong interdisciplinary focus, drawing upon the contributions of other disciplines to the study of the past, often with direct teaching input from staff based in English and Archaeology, Music, Philosophy and Modern Languages. Students on these programmes also have the opportunity to take courses from programmes other than the one for which they are registered.

Modern Languages - taught courses

We welcome students with the most diverse needs and expectations of postgraduate study. Whether you wish to study part time or full time, we can offer you a supportive and challenging experience.

Modern Languages research covers European Studies, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American Studies with particular focus on film and television, linguistics, literature, culture, society, politics, history, anthropology and transnational studies. We are one of the top research centres in the UK with around 900 full-time and part-time students.

Our cross-disciplinary research agenda means we have close links with English (film studies and transnational communities) and History (cultural memory), as well as links with Social Sciences, particularly in politics.

English - research

English at Southampton offers great opportunities for postgraduate research. We can offer expertise in all literary periods from the medieval to the present day.

Good supervision is the heart of our commitment to providing excellent doctoral research programmes. In English at Southampton, you'll have a supervisory team tailored to your research project's specific needs, drawn from our large and diverse body of research active staff, who are at the forefront of developments in their fields.

Interdisciplinary study is a special strength of Humanities, and English staff and students are active in a number of research centres and cross-disciplinary and collaborative projects; we particularly welcome applications in these areas. We also offer a PhD in Creative Writing; you would be expected to submit a substantial creative work plus an extended essay reflecting on the work, the process of composition, its aims, and context.

Film Studies - research

Our MPhil / PhD programmes offer a flexible range of study options, including part-time and distance learning, as well as an exciting integrated degree (iPhD) that presents a new way to progress from Masters to Doctoral work.

Our MPhil/PhD students benefit from contact with an energetic and dedicated group of specialists with a broad range of interests, as well as excellent research resources. We welcome enquiries on any topic in film and television.

History - research

We offer a wide menu of stimulating and innovative programmes across diverse chronological and geographical fields of research.

We provide training in research and related skills, offer regular and frequent meetings with supervisors and advisers, and aim to integrate our students fully into the life of the department. Our students are strongly encouraged to participate in our research seminars, at which both eminent visiting speakers and our own staff and research students contribute to lively and informative discussions.

Modern Languages - research

If you are thinking about doing research in modern languages you will find us an excellent choice. Our research is of superb quality, and we can offer supervision in a number of areas not usually found in UK universities.

Our reputation attracts the very best academic talent in their chosen field, meaning that our postgraduate supervisors are highly experienced and are engaged in the most innovative research. Humanities at Southampton is a multi-disciplinary grouping of Archaeology, English, Film, History, Modern Languages, Music and Philosophy.

Together these present our postgraduate students with a wealth of possibilities for interdisciplinary study and research especially in conceptual, cultural, linguistics and literary approaches, and in the study of society in the past and present.

Philosophy - research

Our staff have a wide range of interests, with special foci on aesthetics, modern German philosophy, Wittgenstein, and philosophy of mind, language and action.

We have a long-established international reputation for our work in the History of Philosophy, especially 19th century German philosophy; in analytic aesthetics; and in the thought of Wittgenstein. More recently, we have developed a very strong profile for our work in epistemology, ethics, metaphysics and the philosophies of mind and language.

Philosophy has a large and vibrant postgraduate community, with over 20 students currently registered. We have a successful record in attracting postgraduate funding, and students may also apply to the postgraduate research coordinator for sums to fund research training and conference attendance.